Balochistan Liberation Army

The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) was a Baloch nationalist militant organization which waged war against the Pakistani government from 2004. The BLA was founded by Khair Bakhsh Marri, and it sought equal rights and self-determination for the Baloch people in Pakistan, who were subjected to repression for decades. In 2000, it claimed responsibility for a series of bombing attacks on Pakistani authorities, and the US State Department described the BLA as a terrorist group. Pakistan accused the BLA of being an Indian proxy, and claimed that the Indian consulates in Kandahar and Jalalabad in Afghanistan provided arms, training, and financial aid to the BLA in an attempt to destabilize Pakistan. In addition, a leaked cable also suggested that the United Arab Emirates and Russia also supported the BLA.